NaNoWriMo

Today I signed up for NaNoWriMo, with the intention of getting another rough-as-a-brush draft as something finished and placed carefully in a drawer for cold-eyed editing in the future. Although I should be doing my agent's edits on book one (The Marionette, additional info at top of page etc...) I just don't feel I've got my post-surgery wits about me quite yet, and I'm really not in the headspace to be going back over that book with any clarity. I don't trust my judgement yet, which is fine for blasting ideas (good ones, I think, and definitely ones that have been bugging at me for a while) onto paper with little reflection or hand-wringing, it's not ideal for carefully sculpting phrases and ideas I've already worked on so much and so often.

What I hope to have at the end of the month is a manuscript of around 40-50k words. I know the target is 50k, but I'm not sure the book will even be as long as that... I might be surprised, and I hate to start off sounding quittish. But really, if- instead of steadily gaining weight while watching Jeremy Kyle- I have a decent piece of work as a starting point for another finished, credible novel by the time December rolls in, that would be an incredibly good result. 

By then, I hope, I'll have exorcised the demons- the other characters and ideas- enough to get back to Fin and his confrontation with Marco Van pepe... and my mind will be no longer addled by drugs (prescription) and lack of sleep.

Today I wrote 1000 words. A decent start and it gets a tricky opening sequence I've oft-puzzled about out the way. More tomorrow. Definitely. More tomorrow...